Cargocraft Down
by PixelsShattered
Summary: Marooned was about the last thing Zachary ever imagined he'd be, and to make matters worse, he's completely alone. Well, aside from a clone and an android, but neither of those really count, right? One way or another, he's going to need to put his rather low opinion of humanity's boons aside if he wants to survive long enough to call for help.


The first thing Zac felt was a shock. Then pressure. Intense pressure, then it was gone. Then it was back, like a force against his chest, hands painfully pressing down on his sternum. Was he dying? He wasn't sure, so he opened his eyes to find out, and was immediately greeted by a sight that made him wish he didn't.

The first thing Zac saw was red. Everything was red, there was red on him, and there was red on the seven-foot tall combat android that was on its knees at his side apparently preforming CPR. It looked like just some run-of-the-mill urbworld peacekeeper or soldier-type, dark plasteel plating, blocky head, the whole nine yards.

The first thing Zac remembered was the sirens. The entire cockpit shaking, the throttle going out, the cargo ship beginning to careen off trajectory and downwards, towards a planet below. He had been shipping androids, and clones, to some nearby glitterworld… that would explain the red everywhere, there was no way the mass cryorfreezers could have protected the hundreds of clones on board. The only reason they were even kept alive was because it was cheaper to ship the whole body than to pay someone to harvest specific organs and tissues… but now he was likely lying in a field of mangled clone corpses. It wasn't particularly unnerving to him, just gross, after all, it wasn't like they were full people, they may be physically mature, but they're dumb as rocks, can't read or speak or even walk on account of the fact they don't exactly have parents to teach them. They may as well be human-shaped animals.

"Subject Zachary Edward Douglas revitalized. Please, remain still." The android spoke, its voice ambiguous in sex, but audibly synthesized in delivery. Zac took the opportunity to completely disregard the command and sit up, and sure enough, his suspicions were confirmed. The area that his ship had crashed down in seemed to be some sort of valley, with two mountains on either side creating a natural corridor that the hundred and fifty yard cargo craft had slotted right in to. The ship itself was a way off, he must have been thrown from it as it crashed down, along with most of the cargo… laying in the grass around him were hundreds of naked, bloodied, and in some cases dismembered corpses of human clones. The tattoos all across their bodies marking everything from brand to the best places to cut into confirmed it. At least they weren't alone, as there were at least as many chunks of androids laying around. Zac sure was lucky he didn't end up like them.

Really, it was lucky he even survived, seeing as he was the only human onboard the ship.

"Please remain s—" The android tried to repeat, but the man was paying it no mind. It wasn't like any robot was going to tell him what to do.

"Still my ass, any more of you metal bastards survive the crash?" He asked irritably. Even if he didn't take too kindly to the things, having more muscle was always appreciated, so long as they didn't get too mouthy with him.

"No. I was able to recover two living human clones, although one expired before I was able to resuscitate you." The machine replied, seemingly unfazed by his abrasive behavior. The mid-thirty year old man was very visibly not too happy with that news, seeing as he put a hand to the bridge of his nose and gave a long sigh.

"You tried to save one of those fuckers before you tried to save me?!" The man instantly snapped, clearly not too happy that the robot had opted to at least attempt to revive two clones, two braindead bodies only useful for their organs, over him. He was worth so much more than them! They weren't even people!

"Correct." The android replied simply, either not seeing the problem, or not wanting to argue it. Of course, Zac had to be stuck with a dim one.

"You listen here, if you ever have to choose between me and a clone ever again, you will prioritize ME. Got that?" The man growled at the significantly larger and probably much more capable machine, knowing full well it wouldn't do anything in retaliation. "What'd you do with the living one?" He followed, after a moment of silence to hopefully drive his anger home.

The android raised an arm, pointing out across the blood soaked clearing, where what looked like a young female figure was resting in the shade of a mostly undamaged tree. Without a second thought, Zac went to stand up—not realizing that his left ankle was bent to an angle it definitely shouldn't be. Naturally, it's warnings to stay still ignored, the combat android remained silent and simply watched him immediately fall back to the ground, spouting explicatives all the way. Perhaps it really was a little smarter than it looked.

The ankle definitely needed resetting, and fortunately, there was no shortage of material to make a makeshift brace out of. After a painful twist, all the android needed to do was affix a shard of plasteel from one of the busted androids to Zac's leg, and while it wasn't ideal, it would last until more proper medical treatment can be performed.

After all, Zac was a little past his prime, being a mid-thirty year old man, with brown stubble and a long, curly head of hair. He looked, well, like the average space-trucker, neither overweight nor particularly fit, and dressed only in a battered and bloodied pilot suit, which had been halfway pulled off to facilitate defibrillation.

After insisting he could walk on his own, and subsequently failing, Zac was forced to ask the android to help him walk over to the tree where the only other survivor was laying. The girl seemed to be in much better shape, uninjured aside from a few bruises and cuts, which was utterly unfair. After all, it wasn't like she could actually _do anything_ , judging by the fact that she was just laying on her back silently staring at the sky implied that this may be the first time she's ever even been lucid.

The clone looked to be in her late teens at best, but that meant basically nothing, seeing as most clones went from infancy to adulthood within the span of a few weeks while submerged in nutrient-rich vats. Many were slaughtered and harvested on the spot, but some were frozen and shipped off-world to be cut apart or experimented upon. It was easy to see the patchwork of mostly black tattoo-like markings all across her bare body, company brandings, specifics on her blood type, guides on where to cut for which organs, and more contrasted sharply with skin that had never seen the light of a sun before.

Her head turned to the side when she saw the shadow of something approaching. She recognized the android, but she didn't recognize the person it was helping along. She certainly seemed curious, and began fumbling around, eventually able to sit herself up. While she didn't have coordination, at least she had the muscle mass to operate her own body. The android helped Zac sit against the tree, before crouching down as well, nearer to the clone girl, who seemed to trust it a little more than the stranger.

Well… it was far from ideal, but at least he wasn't completely alone on this planet. With a long sigh, Zac began trying to come up with a plan.


End file.
